2024 CDE Fall Conference: Creating a Landscape of Wellbeing and Belonging

This session will delve into collaborative strategies and tools to create and enhance comprehensive health and sex education programs that are sustainable and prioritize youth voice. Administrators and educators will identify best practices and innovative approaches to work together, addressing the needs of their youth and community. The session will support both districts and schools with established comprehensive health and sex education programs and those new to these initiatives. This session will be highly interactive and engage various learning styles through activities, case studies, resources, reflection, and dialogue.

Session Objectives:

1. Participants will examine their personal values and beliefs to understand their perspectives and lead their collaboration with teammates, students, and the community through an intersectional and values-aware lens.
2. Participants will develop strategies and skills to support the creation and innovation of comprehensive health education and sex education programs that center youth voice.
3. Participants will gain tools and guidance through case studies from across the state to tailor their programs to their specific students and community, with a particular focus on students who have historically been excluded or negatively impacted by health and sex education programming.

Physically healthy and resilient students and staff function at their highest level. The American Heart Association helps you create a culture in which health and wellbeing are prioritized. Learn simple ways to support students, their families, and your employees so they can meet your vision for excellence. “We’re glad the AHA provides the body of work that allows us to address physical health and emotional well-being, community safety and preparedness, and provides a shared language that creates permission to take good care of one another while working towards important outcomes.” Kerry Gain, Deputy Executive Director, Academic Services, Austin.

Session Objectives:

• Prioritize your wellbeing and become a leader who inspires others to improve their physical, emotional health so your community can function at a higher level.
• Help students create wellness habits that build resilience.
• Recommendations enhancing preparedness through CPR skills and cardiac emergency response plan.

States are taking a variety of approaches to address the complex issues facing students experiencing homelessness. This presentation will highlight policy reform strategies aimed at removing barriers to the resources and services that many youth encounter so that they can focus on succeeding in school. These reforms include recognizing the role McKinney-Vento homeless liaisons, school counselors, social workers and district staff play in academic achievement of students experiencing homelessness and helping them navigate systems of support.

Session Objectives:

• Participants will learn about state policy reforms to address student homelessness and the advocacy necessary to drive that change.

Families are our most valued partners in supporting the wellbeing and engagement of children at school. During this session participants will gain understanding of a family engagement approach that is trauma-informed and designed to support the collaboration between schools and families. At the close of the session participants will have clarity on how to use the Gathering Input from Families Action Planning Guide as we walk through the steps and best practices.

Session Objectives:

• Define meaningful and trauma-informed family engagement
• Understand the elements of high impact family engagement strategies
• Walk through the implementation steps of the Gathering Input from Families Action Planning Guide

When Summit County, Colorado was facing a community crisis that was driving its workforce away, Theatre SilCo launched the Vivo program in order to support local families. This is a unique, no cost program that currently supports over 100 families through dual language theater education. The answer to getting it off the ground? A stellar collaborative team and forming viable and sustainable partnerships. During this session, Chris and Sara will walk you through how this initiative came about, how the team found the necessary funding to start and sustain it, and the significant impact on its community.

Session Objectives:

We hope our peers will gain some tools to make a community impact through what we know how to do: theatre!Theatre SilCo would like to serve as a resource to other non-profits who are struggling to or wondering how to want to make a local impact and serve a community through their art form.

This session explores the alignment between state government services and community expectations regarding behavioral health resources for students, families, and communities. It will address the awareness gap concerning available state agency resources and the complex policy landscape schools navigate. Participants will have the opportunity to voice their opinions, discuss relevant issues, and provide feedback on new resources developed through multi-agency collaborations. Join us to enhance understanding and improve support mechanisms within the educational and community context, fostering a more effective partnership among all stakeholders.

Session Objectives:

1. Attendees will have increase awareness of resources available to address behavioral health and policy literacy.
2. Attendees will provide feedback on how state agencies can improve resources to meet school, district, and community needs related to behavioral health resource awareness and school-based behavioral health policy literacy.

This presentation will focus on the importance of developing, maintaining, and strengthening relationships with key community partners, specifically in regards to the different aspects of school safety. Participants will hear how a partnership between a a small, urban school district and a school-based community health clinic was created and is maintained to support the students and families within this community, as well as partner with the schools to create a multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted approach to meeting the student's needs and creating a network around students who are more at-risk in regards to safety. Challenges, solutions, and lessons-learned will be shared, as well as an overview of logistics and key-considerations for the planning phases of future partnerships.

Session Objectives:

• High-leverage opportunities and important partnerships
• Best practices and legal considerations for effective collaboration
• Important considerations during the planning and implementation phase

In this session, participants will explore the importance of wellbeing and belonging to promote student success in school and life. Additionally, participants will learn about the Landscape of Wellbeing and Belonging, a new virtual hub hosted by the Colorado Department of Education, that aims to blend guidance, resources, systems, and best practices to improve outcomes for students, staff, and families across all PK-12 schools in Colorado. We will explore the five features of wellbeing and belonging: safe and welcoming school environments; strong and trusting relationships; support for health and wellbeing; social, emotional, and behavioral competencies; and engaging learning practices.

Session Objectives:

1. Understand how the promotion of wellbeing and belonging helps to ensure that all students achieve high academic standards and gain skills needed to thrive in school and life.
2. Describe the five features of wellbeing and belonging and their alignment with COMTSS, the Colorado Professional Standards, and other frameworks used in school systems throughout Colorado.
3. Identify ways to integrate the five features of wellbeing and belonging into your work so that all students may thrive in school and life.

Flying Pig Farm (FPF) provides a community learning space in which people can reclaim their relationship with food and land. We take a multi-faceted, community-based approach to teaching young people a sense of belonging to their community, their environment, and soil-based food cultivation. Through our partnership with MSSD14, we've been able to serve over 1200 students a year with academically integrated farm activities.

Session Objectives:

1. Provide a working model for community collaboration
2. Demonstrate the success and joy of land-based learning
3. Coach participants on how to integrate our methods at their schools

Participants will be introduced to the concept of Educational Journey Mapping as a student and family driven assessment protocol that can build relationships and identify critical barriers to educational success that can be addressed directly at school or through wrap-around services. Having been piloted through a CO Attorney General Office Education and Innovation Grant with justice-engaged students, educational journey mapping is being expanded to additional school settings to identify and address root causes of chronic absenteeism. Join the workshop to test out the methodology yourself and consider how to develop a tool and a process that speaks to attendance barriers in your school or district.

Session Objectives:

Participants will:
1) Leave with an understanding of educational journey mapping as an evidence-based practice to address chronic absenteeism,
2) Possess a greater understanding of student and family perspectives related to common elements and barriers in the educational trajectory of their children,
3) Be prepared to apply your learning to increase student and family belonging.

Highlights on WSCC in action within Minnesota will be shared at both the state level as well as a case study example from Faribault Public Schools. This session will explore building capacity of supporting the Whole Child with the use of data, aligning with strategic momentum, and engaging wellness committees in ensuring young people are Healthy, Safe, Supported, Engaged, and Challenged.

Session Objectives:

1. Participants will be advance the utilization of the Whole Child framework within their system.
2. Participants will be able to identify and address systemic inequities to enable all students to learn and achieve at high levels.

This presentation will include an Opioid Overdose Prevention and Response Training which includes understanding the opioid crisis; youth impact; what are opioids; harm reduction; and reversing an opioid overdose with Naloxone.

Participants will be provided with training slides and facilitator guide, along with other resources, to conduct a training at their school.

1. An understanding of the opioid public health crisis/youth impact
2. Trained in Opioid Overdose Prevention and Response, including Naloxone administration
3. Equipped with resources to help implement an opioid overdose prevention and response training at their school

This session caters to administrators, educators, mental health providers, and community-based organizations eager to cultivate collaboration across rural regions. Embracing a regional approach significantly enhances collective impact, fosters responsive systems, and ensures sustained implementation of initiatives like Colorado Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports. Amid ongoing uncertainties and educator turnover, continuous capacity building is pivotal for effective implementation. The panel will spotlight the formation of a Regional Implementation Team, comprising diverse voices from CDE offices, educators, community-based organizations, and Adams State University. Its goal: fortify equity for vulnerable youth, offer high-quality professional development, and enhance staff well-being. Gain firsthand insights from small rural districts on implementing COMTSS alongside community members, fostering impactful outcomes, and boosting equity for historically marginalized communities in rural areas.

Session Objectives:

1. Participants will grasp the importance of collaboration among administrators, educators, mental health providers, and community-based organizations across the region to improve educational outcomes.

2. Participants will learn how to enhance equity for vulnerable youth by establishing a Regional Implementation Team comprising diverse voices from CDE offices, educators, community-based organizations, and Adams State University.

3. Participants will comprehend how a regional implementation team offers professional development opportunities to enhance staff skills and well-being, ensuring the effective implementation of initiatives like COMTSS.

Schools can play a powerful role in the prevention and intervention of substance misuse with students. For students to succeed in school, substance use and other risk behaviors should be addressed as they can have a negative impact on future academic and career outcomes.

Per House Bill 23-1009, the Secondary School Student Substance Use Committee developed a report to support secondary schools in building systems that identify students who need substance use treatment and subsequently provide needed interventions, resources and referrals. Join us to learn more about the recommendations in the report and identify how your school can help address and support student needs.

Participants will be able to:
1. Describe the report recommendations to utilize Multi-Tiered Systems and Support (MTSS) and the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral (SBIRT) models to prevent, identify and address student needs for behavioral health supports.
2. Identify available resources and tools to appropriately address and support student substance misuse needs.
3. Relate the information to what is currently available in their setting to modify or enhance existing systems to meet student substance use needs.

Discover a variety of opportunities in your community to expand the wellness programming for your staff, students, and families. Louie and Jess will share examples on partnering with businesses for free or minimal cost that can impact the physical, social, mental and nutritional health of your school community.

Session Objectives:

• Participants will leave with new ideas for partnership for school and/or district wellness programming. 
• Participants will be able to identify new ideas for partnership for staff, student, and family wellness programming.
• Participants will be able to identify at least one program or event they can implement/promote for free or minimal cost.

Attendees will gain an understanding of the overarching need for comprehensive sex education (CHSE), and youth disparities as it relates to their sexual health outcomes particularly for LGBTIQA+, BIPOC, disabled youth, youth survivors of sexual violence, and those traditionally left out of sex education. They will also learn the need for anti-racist and anti-oppressive CHSE and strategies for implementing it in the classroom. Lastly, folx will walk away with recognizing CHSE as a multi-prong approach to addressing suicide prevention, substance use, mental health, and sexual violence among other critical factors that impact young people and hence their health outcomes.

Session Objectives:

1. Promote and encourage conversation around the value in promoting work around anti-racist and anti-oppressive sex education in schools and districts in Colorado
2. Speak to and discuss the value in leveraging data collection opportunities and efforts to speak to diverse and critical issues in sex education
3. Discuss CHSE as an approach for addressing suicide prevention, substance use, mental health promotion, sexual violence, etc.

Regional Collaborative Conversations, Family Resource Centers, and the community schools strategy are impactful family, school, and community partnership initiatives that are playing a critical role in addressing the needs of Colorado’s most vulnerable youth. This presentation will provide an overview of multiple entry-points to serving your most vulnerable populations and ways that the Colorado Department of Education can support local implementation. This session will highlight different approaches to effective family engagement across Colorado and participants will identify strategies that are transferable to their local context and the unique populations that they serve.

Session Objectives:

• Learn about the Colorado Department of Education’s work supporting Regional Collaborative Conversations and Transformational Partnerships, Family Resource Centers, and community schools at the local level.
• Consider elements of family, school, and community partnership success stories of addressing the needs of the most vulnerable youth and families in areas of Colorado with high concentrations of poverty and how it might look in your community.
• Discuss how to support the community. family, school, and community partnership initiatives in your community and identify opportunities for growth.

This session will explore current data on LGBTQ students' health and wellbeing, highlighting the crucial role of a supportive school environment. Attendees will learn best practices for fostering true belonging through systemic and academic approaches, ensuring sustainability and buy-in from all school community members. Drawing from History UnErased’s work in over 3,000 schools, real-life examples and testimonials will showcase effective strategies for urban, suburban, and rural settings, minimizing and navigating pushback, and bringing all members of the school community together around student wellbeing and achievement.

Session Objectives:

1- Understand the impact of school environments on LGBTQ students' health, wellbeing, and connectedness.
2- Identify and implement best practices for creating sustainable, inclusive educational environments.
3- Gain insights from successful real-life examples and testimonials to replicate inclusive practices in diverse school settings.

Through an Attorney General’s Justice Innovation Grant, case management was undertaken for 20 justice-engaged youth to support school re-entry and success. With only 20% of adjudicated youth earning a diploma nationwide, the support team assisted stakeholders in moving students toward graduation. Participants will be introduced to the findings from this process that impacted the content and passage of HB24-1216 and understand how those provisions will impact their school or district going forward. Bill provisions can increase belonging for justice-engaged students and their families when implemented in a way that supports educational success.

Session Objectives:

1) Leave with an understanding of how HB24-1216 will impact your school or district.
2) Embrace greater understanding from student and family perspectives of common elements and barriers in the educational trajectory of justice engaged youth,
3) Gain experience analyzing an educational journey map completed by a student and their family member and working collaboratively to identify common themes and experiences that could be better addressed through a school commitment to ensuring belonging.